The debate around vaccinations has been a hot topic lately after a measles scare in Keene that turned out to be an adverse reaction to the vaccine.
But it’s not just recently, as the back and forth on whether to follow the vaccine schedule put forth by the Center for Disease Control in conjunction with the American Academy of Pediatrics has been on the minds of young parents for years.
There are those who choose to follow the advised practices of the vaccination schedule, while some decide to delay the schedule by months or years, and others make the decision to not vaccinate their children at all – and any variation or combination in between.
And what it comes down to is a personal choice and one that shouldn’t be made lightly.
For Greg Kriebel, who has spent the last 20 years as a pediatrician at Monadnock Pediatrics, his job is to make sure parents have all the information at their disposal. As someone who feels strongly that all children should be vaccinated according to the guidelines set by the CDC and AAP, Kriebel really gets into the topic with parents at the two-month checkup.
Outside of the standing order for Hepatitis B at birth, the first immunizations don’t happen until that appointment and that’s when Kriebel will determine where the parents stand on the topic – if the subject hasn’t already been discussed.
For someone like Susanne Doremus of Jaffrey, there was never any question as to whether she would vaccinate her five children. When she was a child, a family her parents were friends with had a baby who died of whooping cough after it wasn’t vaccinated.
“I remember it really affected me,” Doremus said.
That right there gave her the mindset that she would always vaccinate when she had children.
Amy Bright of Harrisville was vaccinated as a child, but back then there were less vaccines given out. When she had children of her own, she made a choice that she felt strongly about.
“We made a decision very clearly; it was not to vaccinate,” Bright said.
The one vaccine the family was advised to get for Bright’s two boys was tetanus, which she did. Now that her children are older, one is 19 and in college and the other is in high school at ConVal, things have changed. Her 19-year-old has received some vaccinations, which were required for a school trip out of the country and for college, while she knows that her youngest will likely follow the same path.
For Bright, her stance has always been that a child’s immune system needs a chance to fully develop before “attacking it with all these foreign substances.” Now that her children’s immune system are developed, she knows they can handle the vaccines, but still will only have the ones that she feels are necessary.
She herself had a case of the mumps as a child and her mom was quarantined for polio as a young adult. If there was an outbreak of measles, then Bright said she would consider having her children vaccinated, but she said thankfully it never came to the point to make that kind of decision.
Bethany Paquin of Jaffrey had her first child in 2004 and for the most part followed the vaccination schedule put forth by her pediatrician – with a few exceptions. She waited until the two week appointment to get Hepatitis B, which is typically given during the initial hospital stay after birth.
When it came time for the chicken pox vaccine, Paquin was concerned about how long it would be effective and worried that her children would end up with the disease later in life, which is more serious as you age. She discussed holding off on the vaccine with her pediatrician until her son was 12, giving him a chance to get the disease. If he hadn’t gotten the chicken pox by then, they would do the vaccine.
“I just felt there was some uncertainty around it,” Paquin said.
But it never came down to making that decision, as both her children got the disease after encountering a child affected during a family vacation. Once word got out that Paquin’s children had the chicken pox, parents were lining up for play dates to pass along the disease to their children.
“We quickly became a popular family,” Paquin said.
Kriebel has encountered all kinds of beliefs and thoughts on vaccines over his two-decade career. Sure, he has his own convictions when it comes to the vaccination schedule, but he understands it comes down to the decision of each parent.
“The vast majority of people don’t have a problem with vaccinations,” Kriebel said.
When he does encounter parents who don’t wish to vaccinate, he tries to answer any questions and determine the reasons behind their decision that way he can help alleviate any concerns and address any myths or misconceptions.
“I usually start the conversation with why,” he said. “And for first time parents I will absolutely ask every time because people do change their mind.”
There are delayed schedules and ways to catchup on vaccinations. For those who decided against vaccinations, they are required to sign a refusal form.
“We feel that they are very important,” Kriebel said. “That’s why we think parents should do it.”
Throughout her children’s schooling, Bright has been asked to fill out forms of exemption with support from her doctors. It hasn’t always been the most popular of choices among family and friends, but it’s the one she felt strongly about – and still does.
“I think it’s a good learning experience for young parents to know their choices,” Bright said. “I feel people should educate themselves. But I don’t think at the time we knew much of what was ahead, we were dealing with what was in front of us.”
For Doremus, she looked at both sides of the argument, but decided that the experts in the field of medicine knew a lot better than she did about protecting from certain diseases.
“These people spend their lives coming up with this schedule,” Doremus said.
In the end it came down to doing what she felt was best for her five children.
For a complete schedule of vaccinations, visit cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/child-adolescent.html.